I always find it interesting that those that scream the loudest that the
government cannot properly teach our children the basics such as Math, English,
History, Social Studies, etc., seem to be the same ones who want the government
to teach our children how to pray.

Excellent article. I went to high school in Indiana, and we had school
assemblies featuring an evangelical preacher who urged all to accept Jesus as
our personal savior. As a Mormon, I was shunned by people I thought of as
friends.

I remember forced prayer in the schools when I was a child. The two Catholic
children in our class put their palms together when they prayed instead of
folding their arms like us Mormons. Of course, the Catholics were mercilessly
bullied for doing this outrageous thing once we got out in the schoolyard.

I've been in the unique position of having attended a school which began
every day with prayer. It was a Catholic school.

Here's what
I saw - most students didn't care one whit about the prayer, they just said
the words to get through it and get it done. It wasn't a meaningful ritual
or part of the day. The reasons adults wanted us to pray weren't being met
by the actual daily prayer in school.

Students are allowed to pray to
themselves any time they want (so long as they don't disrupt other students
and classroom activities). Those who find it meaningful will do so, those who
don't won't.

The
Constitution protects our right to worship our God without Government
interference.

The government has restricted speech (prayer) and it
has restricted our right to worship (ban of prayer in schools).

What
part of the Constitution do those who favor the ban on prayer not understand?
What part of freedom of speech and freedom of religion do they not understand?
There is NO protection of freedom FROM religion written in the Constitution.

Get over it or move to a country that officially suppresses speech and
worship.

Davis is completely correct here. I once favored the right to pray in school,
but then I listened to one of the most religious men I've known discuss the
issue and point out the danger of violation of the religious beliefs and rights
of the minority. I changed my mind. What goes on in the home and in the
privacy of ones life is what forms the foundation, not whether a prayer is said
in a public place where the point of the gathering is not a religious gathering.

@ Mike: Students and teachers are more than welcome to pray in school - what
they are not allowed to do is to disrupt class or interfere with other
individuals, nor are they allowed to force or coerce others to join with
them.

Coincidentally, students and teachers are also prohibited from
engaging in other disruptive speech such as uttering expletives.

@Mike Richards – “There is NO protection of freedom FROM religion
written in the Constitution.”

Mike – you continue to
(mis)understand the Constitution in ways that would make Clarence Thomas look
like Earl Warren.

To your question above, what part of
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”
as well as the 14th Amendment and incorporation precedents (making the Bill of
Rights apply to state and local governments too) do YOU not understand?

The question comes down to a very basic questiion on the part of those who
prohibit speech. They see government as "god" who protects them from
ideas foriegn to their personal beliefs. Can they cite any part of the
Constitution that prohibits speech? Can they cite any part of the Constitution
that lets government censor speech? Can they site any part of the CONSTITUTION
that prohibits the free exercise of religion? Of course not. They cite liberal
judges who legislated from the bench in direct violation of Article 1, Section
1.

So much for respecting the Constiturion! They "worship"
liberal judges who disrespect their fellow Americans by legislating from the
bench.

"The Constitution protects our right to worship
our God without Government interference."

So if my religion
believes in human sacrifice, you are willing to offer yourself for my religion.
I can't wait to perform my next religious ceremony.

Since the
Constitution absolutely protects our right to speech, you are willing to allow
your kids or grand kids be forced to pray to Allah, Odin, Zeus, or any other
god, even if you don't believe in those gods?

actually I agree. The STATE or PUBLIC school system is rotting on the vine and
that trend is only going to get worse going forward. This public system run by
secular progressives will continue to decay and I see parents moving to private
schools or charter schools that CAN and WILL have their own version of Christian
or Jewish or Muslim school prayer and values. What this means is only the
wealthy will be able to aford the private schools and the rest are either going
to have to home school or take their chances in the God-less, socialist public
school system. You can really see ...maybe 50 years down stream ... two
Americas. Like California where you have the wealthy Hollywood and tech
CEO's and then the rest of the state which happens to contain the HIGHEST
poverty rate in the country ...I see America 50 years from now in the same exact
situation. I see those kids in public school system under-educated and
unprepared for college as well as being taught atheism and other toxic
ideologies. Throw into that public system an increasing degree of violence as
well. The other smaller America will be faith based.